Only 48 days until Christmas! It’s the perfect time of year to start making ornaments. (Sophia was 1.5 years old, since this is from last year.)

Setting up for projects properly is the most important part when working with a toddler. You want to have everything you may need at arms reach. Tip: Tin foil is super easy for cleaning up afterwards, so I use it a lot.

Chris helped me with this project and it helps immensely to have an extra pair of hands and eyes. This year I would tackle this with just Sophia and I, since she follows instructions (most of the time).

I found really nice pine cones on one of our walks in our neighborhood and picked them up. I cleaned them off, screwed in the eyelet screws, put strings on and painted them white. I hung them up to dry (put something underneath to catch the paint drips).

Once they were dry I set it all up for Sophia to paint. Since this was her first time painting, we didn’t know what to expect, so we prepared for the worst. We took off her shirt, had a packet of wet wipes, paper towel roll, towels… well you get the idea.

Really all it took was to be in control the paint and give her more when she wanted it but keeping it out of reach other wise.